阅读：六级四十天突破—讲义与笔记（15）

What has the telephone done to us, or for us, in the hundred years of its existence? A few effects suggest themselves at once. ①It has saved lives by getting rapid word of illness, injury, or fire from remote places. ②By joining with the elevator to make possible the multistory residence or office building, it has made possible - for better or worse - the modern city. ③By bringing about a great leap in the speed and ease with which information moves from place to place, it has greatly accelerated the rate of scientific and technological changes and growth in industry. Beyond doubt ④it has seriously weakened if not killed the ancient art of letter writing. ⑤It has made living alone possible for persons with normal social impulses; by so doing, it has played a role in one of the greatest social changes of this century, the breakup of the multi-generational household. ⑥It has made the war chillingly more efficient than formerly. Perhaps, though not provably (可证实), it has prevented wars that might have arisen out of international misunderstanding caused by written communication. Or perhaps - again not provable - by magnifying and extending irrational personal conflicts based on voice contact, it has caused wars. Certainly it has extended the scope of human conflicts, since it impartially disseminates (传播) the useful knowledge of scientists and the nonsense of the ignorant, the affection of the affectionate and the malice (恶意) of the malicious.

 

22. According to the passage, it is the telephone that ______.

A)    has made letter writing an art

B)  has prevented wars by avoiding written communication

C)  has made the world different from what it was

D)  has caused wars by magnifying and extending human conflicts

注：A应该是削弱

 

To protect the interests of their members in the era of automation, unions have adopted a number of new policies. One of these is the ①promotion of supplementary unemployment benefit plans. It is emphasized that since the employer involved in such a plan has a direct financial interest in preventing unemployment, he will have a strong drive for planning new installations so as to cause the least possible problems in jobs and job assignments. Some unions are working for dismissal pay agreements, requiring that permanently dismissed workers be paid a sum of money based on length of service. Another approach is the idea of the "improvement factor", which calls for wage increases based on increases in productivity. It is possible, however, that labour will rely mainly on reduction in working hours in order to gain a full share in the fruits of automation.

 

32. From the third paragraph of the passage, we can conclude that young adults t end to believe that certain types of clothing can __________.

A) change people's conservative attitudes toward their lifestyle
B) help young people make friends with the opposite sex
C) make them competitive in the job market
D) help them achieve success in their interpersonal relationships

 

People tend to agree on what certain types of clothes mean. Adolescent girls can easily agree on the lifestyles of girls who wear certain outfits(套装), including the number of boyfriends they likely have had and whether they smoke or d rink. Newscasters, or the announcers who read the news on TV, are considered to be more convincing, honest, and competent when they are dressed conservatively. And collage students who view themselves as taking an active role in their inter personal relationships say they are concerned about the costumes they must wear to play these roles successfully. Moreover, many of us can relate instances in which the clothing we wore changed the way we felt about ourselves and how we act ed. Perhaps you have used clothing to gain confidence when you anticipated a stressful situation, such as a job interview, or a court appearance.

 

[Page 71]
    Every year television stations receive hundreds of complaints about the loudness of advertisements. However, federal rules forbid the practice of making ads louder than the programming. In addition, television stations always operate at the highest sound level allowed for reasons of efficiency. According to one NBC executive, no difference exists in the peak sound level of ads and programming. Given this information why do commercials sound so loud?
    The sensation of sound involves a variety of factors in addition to its speak level. Advertisers are skilful at creating the impression of loudness through their expert use of such factors. ①One major contributor to the perceived loudness of commercials is that mush less variation in sound level occurs during a commercial. In regular programming the intensity of sound varies over a large range. However, sound levels in commercials tend to stay at or near peak levels.
    ②Other “tricks of the trade” are also used. Because low-frequency sounds can mask higher frequency sounds, advertisers filter out any noises that may drown out the primary message. In addition, the human voice has more auditory (听觉的) impact in the middle frequency ranges. Advertisers electronically vary voice sounds so that they stay within such a frequency band. ③Another approach is to write the script so that lots of consonants (辅音) are used, because people are more aware of consonants than vowel (元音) sounds. ④Finally, advertisers try to begin commercials with sounds that are highly different from those of the programming within which the commercial is buried. Because people become adapted to the type of sounds coming from programming, a dramatic change in sound quality draws viewer an attention. For example, notice how many commercials begin with a cheerful song of some type.
    The attention-getting property of commercials can be seen by observing one-to two-year-old children who happen to be playing around a television set. They may totally ignore the programming. However, when a commercial comes on, their attention is immediately drawn to it because of its dramatic sound quality.

31.According to the passage, the maximum intensity of sound coming from commercials _______.
A) does not exceed that of programs.
B) is greater than that of programs.
C) varies over a large range than that of programs.
D) is less than that of programs.
注：文章第一段no difference

 

32.Commercials create the sensation of loudness because _______ .
A) TV stations always operate at the highest sound levels.
B) their sound levels are kept around peak levels.
C) their sound levels are kept in the middle frequency ranges.
D) unlike regular programs their intensity of sound varies over a wide range.
注：第二点

 

33.Many commercials begin with a cheerful song of some kind because ________ .
A) pop songs attract viewer attention.
B) it can increase their loudness.
C) advertisers want to make them sound different from regular programs.
D) advertisers want to merge music with commercials.
注：第四点

 

34.One of the reasons why commercials are able to attract viewer attention is that ________ .
A) the human voices in commercials have more auditory impact.
B) people like cheerful songs that change dramatically in sound quality.
C) high-frequency sounds are used to mask sounds that drown out the primary message.
D) they possess sound qualities that make the viewer feel that something unusual is
happening.
注：第三段Because，B选项like太主观。

35.In the passage, the author is trying to tell us ________ .
A) how TV ads vary vocal sounds to attract attention.
B) how the loudness of TV ads is overcome.
C) how advertisers control the sound properties of TV ads.
D) how the attention-getting properties of sounds are made use of in TV ads.
注：文章最后一段